Extensive felling and mulching operations are often performed with a heavy-duty brush cutter mounted to the front of a work vehicle. A typical brush cutter includes a brush cutting head provided with an elongate support body that carries about its outer surface a plurality of teeth adapted to cut trees, brush or the like. The brush cutting head is rotatably mounted within an open-bottom housing. The housing has a pair of spaced apart sidewalls between which extend a top wall, a front wall and a rear wall. The walls of the housing cooperate with each other to define a well sized to receive therein the elongate support body of the brush cutting head. The brush cutting head is mounted for rotation between two spaced apart housing sidewalls with its ends supported on bearing assemblies mounted in the sidewalls.
A drive assembly is also provided to urge rotation of the support body. This drive assembly typically includes a motor carried on the sidewall of the housing and a transmission system for transmitting the torque produced by the motor to the support body. In one known brush cutting head, the transmission system includes a drive belt arrangement. Chain and sprocket arrangements have also been employed. In such brush cutters, the transmission system is usually housed within a protective enclosure carried on one of the sidewalls. A removable cover plate provides access to the protective enclosure for servicing or repair of the motor and/or transmission system. In the case of heavy-duty brush cutters, each sidewall carries its own motor and associated transmission system.
The brush cutting head often needs to be detached from the brush cutter for servicing or replacement, for instance, where a plurality of cutting teeth are broken or where the brush cutting head and its cutting teeth do not suit the particular field conditions encountered on a site to be cleared. In known brush cutters of the type described above, the detachment of the brush cutting head from the brush cutter tends to be a complicated, labour-intensive and time-consuming task because it requires not only that the support body be decoupled from the housing but also that the bearing assemblies and transmission system be taken apart as well. In some cases, disconnecting one brush cutting head and replacing it with another can take between six to eight hours. As a result, a brush cutter whose brush cutting head is undergoing servicing, repair or replacement tends be subjected to extended periods of non-use with adverse impacts on productivity.
In light of the foregoing, it would be advantageous to have a brush cutter whose brush cutting head could be easily attached/detached from the brush cutter housing without having to dismantle the drive assembly for improved productivity.